Former Foreign Secretary Janjua to highlight Kashmir issue at UN Human Rights Council
August 19, 2019
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has decided to send former Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua to the Geneva to highlight the Kashmir issue at the United Nations Human Rights Council, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Monday.
Earlier today, Tehmina Janjua – who serves as the Prime Minister's Special Representative on Diplomatic Outreach – called on Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, and discussed important diplomatic issues including the grave situation in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
According to the state-owned Radio Pakistan, the foreign minister directed Janjua to immediately assume her responsibilities in Geneva and highlight the gross human rights violations of Indian troops in Occupied Kashmir before the international community.
Speaking to reporters after a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee for National Security in Islamabad later in the day, the foreign minister said India had violated international agreements by taking a unilateral decision on the disputed Kashmir territory. He also pointed out that India was carrying out grave human rights violations in Occupied Kashmir.
He said the government was looking at legal, political and diplomatic ways to tackle the issue of Occupied Kashmir.
Prime Minister Imran Khan' decision to send Former Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua to United Nations Human Rights Council comes after Pakistan's diplomatic victory last week at the UN Security Council, which met for the first time in over five decades to discuss the critical situation in Indian occupied Kashmir.
During the meeting, members of the UNSC urged parties to the Kashmir dispute to refrain from taking any unilateral action, effectively rejecting India's stance that Kashmir was an internal issue and not an internationally recognised dispute.
It is extremely rare for the Security Council to discuss Kashmir, which has been divided between India and Pakistan since independence from Britain in 1947. The last time there was a full Security Council meeting on the Himalayan region was in 1965.
